Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0021937, Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:37:50 +0100

Subject
Re: Golliwogs
From
Date
Body
It¹s vital to know that Goll[i/y]wog (the doll and the name) is considered
racist to many Anglophones. And Wog even more so, in the same taboo class as
the N-word. Context: child-speak doggy-woggy

Of course PC (Politically Correct) fashions vary confusedly over space, time
and languages. Even sensitive novelists like Nabokov can be caught
retrospectively Œout-of-phase,¹ as it were. He regularly uses Negro where
Black or African-American have become more Œacceptable.¹ Blacks themselves
have long argued over these changing usages. See, e.g., Black linguist John
McWhorter¹s comments at
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2010/01/john-mcwhorter-on-the-word-n
egro/20367/

Growing up in 1930s UK, we found the Golliwog black doll rather cute and
totally inoffensive. Indeed, until 2002 the Golliwog logo label appeared on
the jars of Robinson¹s most popular jams and marmalades. The current trend
is that both the name and doll are out of fashion, being widely considered
as distasteful stereotypes on a par with blacked-up minstrels.
Stan Kelly-Bootle.

On 13/08/2011 04:12, "Jansy" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:

> Didier Machu: Yes, there are traces of Golliwog in Camera Obscura / Laughter
> in the Dark. Margot twice calls Albinus doggy...in the British edition but in
> the American edition (100, 180) woggy is substituted....
>
> JM: It would be nice if I were able to retribute DMachu's comprehensive
> information in connection to the golliwoggs, but this kind of doll, or of
> adventure-stories for children is very unfamiliar to me. I would never have
> guessed its presence in "Laughter in the Dark" nor in "KQKn," with the
> unexpected literary pranks it entails.
> I'll check it in the Brazilian-Portuguese edition to find out how the
> translators cope with it or, at least, how they render the "doggy-woggy"
> alusion.
>


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